There are 10 teams in this tournament, and after four first-round games, eight of them (four from each group) will reach the second round. There are four solid teams in Group A and we don’t have any problems with Canada or Venezuela playing three more games next week.

But after Argentina and Puerto Rico, there’s a big drop-off in Group B. Of the Panama-Paraguay-Uruguay group, two of those teams will advance to the second round, so this matchup meant a lot to both teams.

Panama was in control, up 70-55, after the third quarter. But Paraguay came all the way back and had a chance to tie the game or take the lead with 19 seconds left. Enrique Martinez found Guillermo Araujo under the basket with five seconds left and Araujo was hammered hard by Ruben Garces.

The Paraguayans were looking for an unsportsmanlike foul call (which would have resulted in two shots and the ball back), but they only got a standard foul. Still, Araujo had the opportunity to send the game to overtime.

After blowing fourth-quarter leads in each of their first two games, Venezuela broke through for their first win. They shot a ridiculous 61 percent from the field, with Greivis Vasquez (21 points) leading the way.

This was a huge win for Canada (and the first real upset of the tournament), but Dominican Republic has been a huge disappointment the last two days.

Canada won this game from beyond the arc, where they shot 10-for-23. All of Andy Rautins‘ 15 points came from 3-point range, where he shot 5-for-8. Two of the five 3s came in the fourth quarter, as Canada built a 12-point lead.

Al Horford finished with 17 points and 11 rebounds, but shot just 5-for-16 from the field. Canada swarmed him whenever he got the ball inside, willing to let his teammates try to beat them.

At this point, it’s no longer newsworthy that both Francisco Garcia and Charlie Villanueva have been awful in this tournament. Garcia scored 12 points, but six of them came in the final four seconds on threes that didn’t affect the outcome. Villanueva had four fouls and four turnovers in eight minutes.

Going forward, we’ll note Garcia’s or Villanueva’s play when they actually perform like one of the most talented players on the floor.

i am a dual canadian-israeli, having moved to Israel. i just read that canada upset the dominican republic in a fiba game.
i am still proud to be a canadian. i love basketball and am very proud of whenever canada or israel win international basketball games.
so i say OH CANADA AND GO CANADA GO. i hope you succeed and make the 2012 olympic games.

For there is a lockout in NBA, other basketball tournament are starting its season. Well it is a good strategy for those who want to see other than the NBA stars. Those who want some basketball action they can get it through other tournaments like FIBA.

It’s good there are other basketball tournaments around because I’m loosing interest in the NBA!

I don’t know why people still want more money when they are already earning millions. If I am earning 1M per year, I don’t mind other people earning 10M or hundreds. Forget fairness, nothing is fair in this world. So NBA and players settle your differences and settle them fast!